Irish Tenor Anthony Kearns and Wexford Institute Support Autism Month

By Wexford Institute, PRNE
Sunday, April 17, 2011

Collaboration Brings Help to Children with Autism, their Educators and Families

RANCHO PALOS VERDES, California, April 18, 2011 - Renowned Tenor Anthony Kearns and Sheila Cassidy, Executive Director of
the Wexford Institute, have launched free coursework for educators and
in-depth resources in English and Spanish for families to support the
education of children with autism. Go to Wexford Autism Center (and El Centro
de Autismo de Wexford) www.wexford.org to register for a free account.
Funding to provide these free resources online happened through the
collaboration of Wexford Institute (a U.S. non-profit) with founding member
of The Irish Tenors, Anthony Kearns.

(Photo: photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110418/DC84465)

Kearns, known for his extraordinary voice and outstanding performances in
concerts and operas, is also recognized for his charity work. Armed with this
knowledge, and the coincidence that Kearns is from Ireland's County Wexford,
Wexford Institute Executive Director Sheila Cassidy contacted Kearns hoping
to assist education through his music in times of massive educational funding
cuts. They began the Wexford Tour of concerts in California, Ohio and
Connecticut to raise awareness and support for sharing resources online.

Kearns said in a recent interview, "This has become a great
collaboration. America has been good to me. This gives me the chance to give
back to communities all across the U.S. by helping children with autism
through these online resources. Taking the tour international will allow me
to assist autism education at home, as well."

Wexford is announcing the free use of the autism resources to its
partners and other agencies in the U.S. and internationally. The resources
were announced to over 4,000 attendees of the annual conference of the
California Association for Bilingual Education.

"Wexford is thrilled to be able to provide these resources free of charge
to the public, at a time when school districts have little or no funding for
professional development or family education," said Cassidy. "We're looking
forward to finalizing schedules for additional concerts in 2011 and 2012 to
help us maintain these resources and provide additional support." Cassidy
explained, "Many agencies already provide autism resources, and we believe
ours will complement those currently available. We are particularly hopeful
that these resources will help families and educators identify children with
autism at a younger age to get the services they need earlier," explained
Cassidy.

Information on upcoming Wexford Tour concert locations with Mr. Kearns
will be at www.wexford.org and www.anthonykearns.net.

Tammy Carajan, +1-310-548-0077

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